Argentalium Bones
by HyaHya
Summary: A series of well-aimed blows sends the treaty into a downward spiral and when the slayers find a way to cripple Vlad forever peace becomes a lost dream. Can Vlad repair the broken links before it's too late or will all be lost?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Argentalium Bones

**Author: **HyaHya

**Rating: **T

**Genres: **Angst, supernatural and drama

**Warnings: **Perhaps a bit of goriness.

**Synopsis: **A series of well-aimed blows sends the treaty into a downward spiral and when the slayers find a way to cripple Vlad forever peace becomes a lost dream. Can Vlad repair the broken links before it's too late or will all be lost?

**Disclaimer: **This is Fanfiction, if I owned Young Dracula this would be happening in the show :D.

**A/N: **Soo…. Squeaky clean…. Uh um…. I…. removed it. It wasn't working for me, I realised all my plots were way too similar so I wrote this instead and it will take SC's place.

This is a story that has been festering in my mind for too long and I am really excited about it. :D

I've noticed a lot of my stories are similar but this is going to be quite a change, for once I might actually do it well. :)

Welcome to **Argentalium Bones**.

* * *

Ingrid was going to upset Vlad, in a big way. She was going to push him further than ever before but she was hoping that the strange misguided hope and faith he had in her would protect her from the impending doom she was about to dive head first into. She looked across the room her face set in a bored expression to the leather clad slayer turning the pages on a faded newspaper.

Mina's face was curled in a deep set frown and her eyes flicked around the room, to the door, onto Ingrid, onto the varnished stake with the guild insignia strapped to her waist and back to the newspaper. For the next ten minutes Ingrid analysed the slayer Mina completed this manoeuvre with her eyes a number of four hundred and fifty two times before Ingrid finally broke the agonisingly dull silence.

"This is a nice apartment…" Ingrid declared and the slayer looked up from her newspaper rather surprised at the manners Ingrid was showing. "For a _slayer." _Mina let out a sigh at the hiss and turned back to her paper. Ingrid glanced around the lavishly furnished room. They were sat in Jonno and Mina's fancy apartment. A blue painted room with brownish leather chairs and a large beige carpet in the centre of the room. Pity, Ingrid though, it was going to get badly stained. She looked at the slayer again; Mina's eyes were doing her little circuit again. Ingrid's lips rose into a half smirk.

"So are you taking garlic pills like the other slayers?" Mina sat up and regarded Ingrid coldly.

"You know there's a rule against taking garlic pills, unlike _vampires, _we follow rules." The slayer hissed in a very vampire-like manner. Ingrid threw her head back and laughed.

"You seem to think we're stupid!" She grinned at the slayer showing a row of perfect snowy teeth. "Let's face it. All the slayers still take pills unless Vlad is giving a presentation, or," Mina was staring a hole in the wall Ingrid noted as she smirked at the slayer. "They just take odourless ones."

Ingrid was enjoying the guilty look on Mina's face all too much. "So which do you do?" Mina scowled at her and Ingrid smiled innocently back.

"Neither." The slayer answered shortly. "Vlad's like a bloodhound, he can smell garlic from a mile away," She sighed. "Even the odourless ones." She glared at Ingrid again. "So no, I do neither."

Ingrid gave her a smile that was almost sympathetic, almost. "Well that's a pity…" Mina looked at Ingrid her expression suddenly guarded.

"Why?" A delighted leer snaked across Ingrid's face as she heard the undercurrents of worry in the slayer's question.

"If you had taken garlic pills then I would've carved every inch of flesh from your bones with that." With a friendly smile Ingrid nodded at the carving knife sat happily in its holder. "But now I can drain it from you!" She bared her fangs and leapt forwards her teeth tearing through the slayer's flesh like it was butter. She took as mouthful of blood and gagged.

She spat out the garlic contaminated blood. On Mina's face. Ingrid let out a disgusted snarl. "Liar!" She raised a hand as the slayer clutching a bleeding neck sprinted for the door. A bookshelf flew across the room to block it as Ingrid snatched a carving knife from its wooden container. Ingrid gave a gruesome grin as blood dripped down her chin and she approached the slayer yanking at the bookshelf. Most of the books were now lying on the floor but an unseen force kept the wooden shell in place.

Realising she had no option but to fight Mina turned drawing the gleaming wood from her belt.

"I am going to enjoy this _way_, too, much." Ingrid cackled with a practically evil smirk, this was going to so be personally gratifying.

The slayer's face and was white and drawn as they circled each other, in fact Mina was so pale that Ingrid wondered if the slayer was actually turning; but she wouldn't be because Ingrid had missed the vein sadly.

They continued to move round each other clockwise sizing each other up. Ingrid's eyes glowed crimson as they lingered on the blood trickling down Mina's collar.

"That looks like it hurts, maybe you should sit down." Ingrid's voice was melodic and hypnotic as her eyes shone gold. The slayer put a hand to head swaying slightly and Ingrid launched herself into the slayer.

She hit Mina straight in the chest and they both went crashing into the floor, Mina winced as her back was pressed down on and a book dug into her spine.

Ingrid raised the knife her above her head her eyes shining with a malevolent delight.

She plunged the knife down once. Blood escaped from the fatal wound. She stabbed downwards again and again and again.

After Ingrid had got bored of slicing Mina to pieces she went and had a shower to wash off all the blood that had gone everywhere. She couldn't fix their lounge and really she didn't care about how she'd permanently stained the beige rug she just needed to wash the blood out her hair before it went all dried and sticky.

She was apparently just in time with drying her hair as not thirty seconds after she'd finished and sat on the sofa Jonno and Vlad walked in looking a little frustrated.

* * *

Vlad realised Ingrid had done something crazy and/or stupid the second he walked in. The scent of blood fermented the air and his enhanced eyesight picked up things he didn't want to see, like the faint drops of red on the blue floor, the lack of beige carpet and Mina's stake discarded on the other side of the room. Evidently Jonno hadn't noticed any of the things that were making feeling this sense of foreboding. His eyes locked with Ingrid's.

_Ingrid, what did you do? _His voice echoed in her head threateningly. She winked at him as Jonno asked her a question.

"Where's mum?" Jonno frowned at Ingrid and she grinned back at the slayer. It set Vlad's teeth on edge.

"Oh, she's in the bathroom." Jonno nodded happy with Ingrid's answer and went over to the fridge. He let out a strangled cry when he opened the door.

Vlad instantly zoned in on Jonno's blanched face and he looked in the fridge. The smell told him exactly what he was going to see.

It was a heart, a human heart. Vlad and Jonno spun round to face Ingrid. "_What did you do?!" _Vlad snarled at the same time as Jonno said. "Where's my mum?!"

"Like I said, she's in the bathroom." Jonno sprinted away and Vlad stared at Ingrid.

"What have you done?" Vlad opened his mouth again to reprimand his sister when he heard Jonno scream.

"_MUM!" _At the hoarse yell Vlad sped to wear Jonno stood ashen faced looking into the small room.

It was Mina, no wonder Jonno looked like he was going to vomit.

There was a fairly obvious cause of death, the big gaping hole where the slayers heart should've been

"INGRID!" Vlad roared and he heard a laugh from the living room. Jonno drew his stake and ran to the source.

Vlad stood in between Jonno and Ingrid, the slayer in question had his stake raised and was breathing heavily, his eyes were also a little red; Vlad was fairly sure that the only reason Jonno wasn't crying was because they were there.

"Vlad, she broke the treaty!" Jonno growled straining against Vlad's outstretched palm. "The punishment is staking!"

He looked at Ingrid and she ignored his gaze continuing to glare at Jonno. Vlad's stomach turned, could he honestly order the execution of his own sister? Of course not.

He snapped his fingers and Jonno froze. Cautiously Ingrid pulled out of her combat stance and regarded Vlad coldly. He scowled at her.

"Go back to Garside; I'll deal with you later." It was not a discussion.

Ingrid vanished a split second later. Vlad turned back to Jonno with a slight wince and twinge of guilt at what he was about to do.

* * *

Vlad returned to Garside shortly after her with a concerned scowl. She wondered what he'd done to placate Jonno; she doubted he was going to be pleased with her.

"Ingrid." She turned away from the dying candle she'd be watching at his call. He didn't look happy. "You killed Mina and cut out her internal organs…" Vlad said flatly and Ingrid felt a burst of pride at her accomplishment as it had rendered Vlad speechless. "Why?" He demanded shocked.

Ingrid scowled; he should know why. "Because she was going to kill _us!_" Ingrid yelled at Vlad who looked slightly surprised by this outburst. "Treaty or no treaty she was going to be the one to stick a stake in the Dracula family!" Vlad opened his mouth to speak but Ingrid started speaking first.

"Face it! You know she was so caught up in Van Helstink's death and wants revenge! She wasn't going to stop until we were all _dead! _So I stopped her first." Vlad blinked.

His expression turned almost pained and he sighed. "Whatever twisted reason you did it for it doesn't matter, just _please _don't let Jonno ever know you're still alive."

He walked away and the candle Ingrid had been watching fizzled into darkness turning the hallway they'd been standing in to pitch black.

* * *

_Reviews are welcome and by that I mean I will cry uncontrollably if I don't receive them. _


	2. Chapter 2

_**So…. Quite a gap between this chapter and the last… :/ Sorry..**_

_**I would tell you that my evil brother stole my laptop so he could take over the world and I had to climb across a pit of lava and a crocodile infested swimming pool to get my laptop back and save everyone but I guess you want the truth yes?**_

_**It's a very infectious and potent disease called **__**laziness**_**.**_** It was back to education, work and homework and I really just couldn't get in the mood :/**_

_**Sorry.. :/**_

_**On brighter news: my birthday was on Saturday!**_

_**Well enough about me, on with the chapter!**_

_**Warnings: Rude language.**_

* * *

Despite the discipline and seriousness of the guild gossip still spread like wildfire and the news that the Chosen One's sister had savaged Mina Van Helsing was juicy as well as enraging. The news of Ingrid's execution was also circling by way of the rumour mill and many wondered how cold blooded Vlad must have been to kill his own sister but Jonno knew Vlad was just as soft as any human despite Ingrid's death, he couldn't remember the affair that well but Ingrid was dead and it had been by Vlad's hands.

That's why he didn't hold Mina's death against the Chosen One, yes he was grieving, oh he was grieving and would be for a while but Jonno also knew that Vlad was grieving his sister's death; he hadn't wanted to kill Ingrid but he did it for the sake of peace and Jonno respected that.

What really irked Jonno though, were the people who felt the need to talk to him about the incident. It was a very private affair as Jonno had wanted it to be and only the five council members _should've _known about the circumstances of Mina's death. Yet most of the guild hadn't even bothered to pretend they hadn't known of the older slayer's demise meaning one of the council members had squealed.

Jonno sighed giving one last scathing look to the guild as he climbed in his Ford and turned the ignition. He wondered how Garside grange was getting on with no Ingrid. If he was honest, probably a lot better.

He pulled up on the drive and climbed out of his car, being a Saturday there was no one in school but he could still see Renfield fiddling around inside. It was beautiful day for England and the sun shone right into the courtyard lighting up every alcove and gap. The Dracula's were probably all hiding in their rooms because of this.

He banged his arm on the wooden door at the base of the courtyard and Renfield's silhouette disappeared from the window he'd been working in.

A minute or two later the door opened and Jonno shuffled uncomfortably under Renfield's scowl. The slayer found it strange that Renfield considered himself above the guild despite the fact that vampires respected them more than anyone had ever respected the servant.

"I'm looking for Vlad." He said and Renfield scowled. Jonno wondered if Vlad had offered the servant a break from working again; last time the pungent Renfield had been seriously offended by the nicety.

"Come in." The servant said gruffly. "He's upstairs."

* * *

He screwed up the ball of paper resting on the table and threw it in the general direction of the fire, he had a feeling it missed. He couldn't think of a way to explain the destruction of the school, Erin's disappearance and Malik's disappearance to Ms McCauley. He would've much preferred to tell her the truth and leave her un-hypnotised but it was obvious that seeing them in that way damaged her so he'd made her forget and intended to keep it that way. Maybe he should just hypnotise her about that too, but he'd heard that too much hypnosis could confuse and potentially damage the breather in question. He snatched another sheet of paper from the pile they kept in the throne room and began scrawling another excuse.

As his pen hovered over the paper eagerly a brilliant idea flew into his head and he started to write.

Jonno came in led by Renfield and the perfect excuse flew out of his head forgotten.

"Jonno," He greeted the slayer with a smile while telepathically warning Ingrid to stay out the throne room because of the slayer's arrival. "How are you? Are you… recovering alright?"

Jonno gave Vlad an unsteady smile and sat down on the sofa opposite the table. "I'm doing alright. Ingrid really did a number on the flat though, the bitch stuck organs in all the cupboards…" He looked at his feet and Vlad winced at the derogatory word referring to Ingrid. "I'm staying at the guild barracks right now… until I can find other living arrangements."

Vlad felt a flash of guilt at his deception but despite the crimes that Ingrid had committed, she was his sister and he would always find some way to forgive her.

But he wasn't quite sure if that was true when Ingrid walked in her crimson lips pulled into a devilish smirk.

To put it lightly, Jonno exploded. "You lied!" He exclaimed his face in an expression of pure betrayal. The mind wipe had apparently slid right off due to slayer hypnosis training.

"Jonno…." Vlad began in soothing tone but the slayer wasn't having it.

"_She!" _He pointed at Ingrid who was grinning manically. "Is still alive and _you! You hypnotised me!" _Vlad blanched as Jonno took a deep breath for another rant. "Does the treaty matter to you at all?!"

"Yes! But! Ingrid! She's my sister!" Vlad had no other excuse.

"She _MURDERED MY MOTHER!" _The slayer yelled.

"You don't understand!" Vlad argued. "You haven't got any family left!" The second the words left his mouth he knew he'd made a mistake. The slayer looked like he'd been stabbed with his own stake.

"The treaty is over." Jonno said his voice hollow and cold.

"Come on," Vlad growled. "You can't do this just because we disagreed!" The slayer spun round his brown eyes lit with fury.

"You think I'm doing this just because you and I argued? No, this is because _you _hypnotised me and she isn't _dead!" _He slammed his fist down on the table. "You keep making exceptions for your family and its cost me _mine!" _

Then the last remaining Van Helsing stormed from the room.

Vlad froze, unsure of how to react. The treaty was ruined for good this time and it was no accident. The paralytic shock faded as Vlad wheeled round to face Ingrid his face curled into a snarl.

Ice met ice as the two Dracula's stared each other down.

"I told you _not to come in!_" Vlad hissed and Ingrid glared back unimpressed. "The only reason you unlived through killing Mina was because I broke the treaty to secure your survival!" He slammed his palm down onto the mahogany table with a heaving sigh. "And what do you do? You not only ignore my instructions but you rub it in Jonno's face!"

Ingrid raised a sceptical eyebrow and her lips curled into a smirk resembling the sneer she'd given Jonno. "It was going to happen anyway," She said nonchalantly and Vlad's eyebrows somehow narrowed further.

"It wouldn't if you didn't continuously botch up the treaty!" He growled at her but she seemed to find his anger amusing, a completely different story than the previous night where she and he had a shouting match.

As if reading his mind she responded to his unsaid question. "I only over did the drama yesterday because I thought you might realise that the slayers won't stop trying to destroy us and as for botching up the treaty, the slayers will do that when they attack." Vlad gritted his teeth.

"I would know if Jonno was lying to me." And he would; before Bertrand's untimely demise he had taught Vlad had sense breathers that lied via their pulse rate, heart beat and breathing. All the time Vlad had been working with Jonno he'd been honest.

"You are an idiot brother. You think just because Jonno doesn't know that his superiors aren't planning to eradicate us." Ingrid's cool composure broke briefly as she scowled at Vlad's apparent idiocy. "If you don't sort the slayers out, I think I will." She turned to walk away but Vlad snatched her wrist and she span to wrench her arm from his vice-like grip. Vlad's eyes glowed yellow as he glared into his sisters angry crimson ones.

"Sorry about this sis," He murmured as Ingrid furious gaze turned blank.

* * *

Ingrid was meant to be destroying the treaty with a devious plan, she'd intended to five times but every time she'd attempted to leave she'd ended up back in the throne room somehow.

She scowled, Vlad had gone to try and repair the treaty and he probably wouldn't have left without finding some way of keeping Ingrid there and that was probably why she was unable to escape the school.

There were only so many hours in the night and Ingrid intended to further fracture the treaty before they all passed. She made her way down the empty corridors of the school that in the day would be teaming with students, she reached the door. This was always where she ended up back in the room where she started.

She made to open the door. Her hand curled round the polished brass handle. Her brain told her hand to twist.

Her hand didn't move. Ingrid's brow furrowed as she attempted to fathom why her hand refused to obey her orders.

_You __must __not leave Garside Grange. _

The ghostly whisper floated in her mind, she couldn't remember who'd said it to her but she couldn't leave and that was why her hand refused to listen to the instructions given.

She scowled at the door for a moment.

"You win this time but I have a way around you," She told it seriously her eyes flashing with a devious shine.

As she turned to go back upstairs she wondered why she was be talking to a door.

* * *

Lacey Williams, the instant she heard her Mistress calling, headed to Ingrid's room. Lacey was one of the remaining members of VP (vampiress liberation) and she was proud to have survived Vladimir Dracula's attack on them.

She hadn't spoken to Ingrid properly in over a year since the VP took a terrible blow from their foe and Ingrid had told her to stay in contact but lay low. Lacey was finally going to be instructed on how best to take down the enemy.

Her dauntless leader didn't look so indomitable though. Dark shadows and creases in her pale youthful face exposed the transformation that she'd taken during Lacey's year of going to ground. Lacey wished she'd been there to soothe the blows that had aged her so.

"You wanted me?" Her voice felt hoarse and unused as she spoke the first words she said to the apex of her life in a whole year.

As Ingrid's ice blue eyes rested on Lacey she felt inadequate and realised she should have prepared herself for this meeting. Her hair was too light and her makeup too flushed.

Ingrid did not apparently see or sense any of this internal discomfort but scowled at Lacey's short form.

"You are apparently the only one left." Her voice was like a choir of angels singing to Lacey in a dark symphony. "So you will be finishing my work." Lacey's unbeating heart swelled with pride at being the one to continue and complete Ingrid's work.

"Go to the Slayer's Guild and kill everyone; don't stop until you're dead."


	3. Chapter 3

**I think I'm going to end up updating around once or twice every two weeks.**

**I know the slow updates are kind of annoying but I found before I wasn't so much writing for pleasure, more just for the sake of writing.**

* * *

Under the cover of a dark sky Vlad made his way to the slayers guild trying to think of what he could say to calm Jonno and the fury that would be directed at him the second he entered the guild. Nothing came to mind but he was sure that Jonno would be willing to fold if he came in good faith.

He walked slowly and didn't speed into the slayer's guild as he normally would. If they saw him coming from a distance he wouldn't be a threat. He heard a slight whoosh as he entered the car park but he looked round quickly and assumed it was just the wind buffering him.

It turned out there was no point to walking into the slayers guild as when he arrived the slayer in their guard tower was dead, crimson streaking the tip of his chin and coating his neck where a vampire had evidently attempted to rip the poor man's throat out.

With a worried frown Vlad he continued in to the base quickening his pace to a run unsure of whether to speed in or not. It turned out who should have.

Once he'd passed the door (by punching through the keyhole) he saw slayers swarming to a corridor giving him brief terrified looks as they hurried to the currently bigger threat.

There was a furious screech. "_You will all pay!" _ Vlad sped to the circle that had been created round the danger. He pushed through the slayers ignoring the stakes pressing against his dark jacket.

A crazed vampiress stood in the centre of the sphere lashing out at anyone who got too close; three decapitated bodies lay at her feet. She looked quite mad, even for a vampire. Her very dark chestnut hair clung to her face in dark sweaty clumps and her muddy brown eyes were dilated in fury. Then she laid those insane pupils on him.

She let out an inhuman screech and pounced at him hitting him square in the chest. In his initial shock he toppled backwards hitting his head on the floor and the vampiress was snarling above him fangs gleaming as she waved wildly a stolen stake above her head ready to plunge it straight into his heart.

Then Vlad saw something that told him exactly who this half-fang belonged to. The vibrant red lipstick and dyed black carefully straightened medium length hair. This half fang screamed Ingrid.

Vlad snapped his fingers. A neat pile of dust fell onto his chest and he sighed in relief. Then the angry yet confused faces of the slayers appeared above him.

"What are you doing here?!" Jonno's furious face appeared above him and Vlad's stomach twisted into a knot.

"Can we talk somewhere more private?" The curious faces watching them told Vlad anything said in the corridor would not be secret.

At the curt nod Vlad got to his feet and silently followed the slayer.

After trudging through two corridors in an awkward quiet they reached an office, the plague on the door read 'Mina Van Helsing'. Vlad felt a pang of guilt.

There was a sofa near the door and looking at the quilt draped over the side he realised this was where Jonno had been sleeping since his mother's death. The knot in Vlad's stomach squeezed a little tighter and his gaze drifted to where Jonno was now seated.

"I thought I made it clear that the treaty was over."

Vlad thought about how the slayers had been only slightly surprised to see him.

"You apparently hadn't told the rest of the guild that." Jonno glared at him and Vlad swallowed uncomfortably.

He tried again this time posing what he'd actually come to discuss. "Please don't cancel the treaty." He attempted to convey his desire to keep peace through his eyes as Jonno stared back at him.

Vlad heard a small growl from Jonno's throat as he tried to resume his scowl. The slayers eyebrows narrowed viciously until a second later he sighed.

"Fine…" The slayer answered wearily. "Just… this is your last chance. Don't mess it up."

Vlad's lips parted as he prepared to speak but he was cut off.

"No, Vlad. Just go we've got dead and wounded to sort out. Just leave."

In a small flurry of wind, Vlad was gone.

* * *

When Vlad returned from the slayer's guild wearing a scowl and dust littered the front of his jacket Ingrid guessed that Macey or whatever the girl's name was had been killed and probably by Vlad.

She plastered a bored expression on her face and snatched the edition of Fang! that had been lying on the table opposite the sofa.

"Are you ever going to stop sabotaging the treaty?" He growled as he dropped into one of the chairs round the table his head coming to rest on his arms. Ingrid briefly looked up from her magazine and raised a delicate, irritated eyebrow. Vlad apparently hadn't been listening to word she'd said to him.

"That depends…"

"On what?" The weariness in his voice failed to smother the aggression he obviously felt towards her.

"On whether you end it first." She smirked because the scowl that creased his face was positively delicious.

Another aged sigh escaped Vlad. "Why did I bother saving you from Jonno?" Ingrid felt a little angry at this rhetorical question; he was actually wondering what had made him save her?

"Phoney sentimentality perhaps?" Vlad's lips tightened fractionally.

"What is your problem?" He snarled bitterly his eyes flashing. Ingrid stood and placed her magazine back on the table.

Ingrid gave him a knowing smile. "It's not _my_ problem, _your _problem is this." She poked him in the chest where his heart wasn't beating then without another word, she sped away.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Every two weeks… Uh yeah... It hasn't been like a month…. Oops?**_

_**You probably don't want to hear that I blew you off for mass-watching tv shows. **_

_**Please forgive me?**_

Ingrid seemed to think that the more she said it then the more likely Vlad was to believe it. So far it was just plain annoying and it gave Vlad doubts about the slayer's word and trust. He guessed that was partially what Ingrid was aiming to do.

But it was just so infuriating having her give cryptic warnings and encouraging him to massacre the slayer's guild every time they met which, as they lived in the same school, was pretty frequent.

"They're just going to turn on you in the end." She had called when they passed in corridors.

That's why he was going to school again. He'd had a ridiculous amount of time off with the most stupid absences so he'd probably get a raw deal from the teachers as it was pretty obvious he hadn't really been ill but he needed an excuse to escape his harpy of a sister.

"Vlad!" The sharp tone snapped him straight out of his thoughts and he spun round to face the threat. It was Miss McCauley. His muscles that had been coiled to attack relaxed and he murmured a quiet 'Yes?'

"It's been over a month since you attended school." If he wasn't already a ghostly white he probably would've paled further. He had been too busy and just hadn't felt he wanted to go back to the mundane existence of pretending to be human. He hadn't kept track of the time.

He opened his mouth to give an awful excuse.

"You were not ill Vlad." He bit his own lip in defeat as Miss McCauley's brown eyes bored into his eyes blue ones.

"I'm sorry Miss… I just didn't feel up to it." Before she could say anything else Vlad continued to his English class.

* * *

Miss McCauley was worried about a student. Considering she was the head teacher of a high it wasn't that uncommon but she'd been awful worried about him for a while especially after he and his girlfriend had broken up. The student had never really interacted with any of the other pupils, for a while she'd even wondered if he was bullied but no, it seemed he apparently preferred being alone. He'd spent the two years he'd attended Garside Grange totally isolated until Erin.

Erin had been so sweet and kind, the two students had ended up being in a very sweet, very strong relationship for several months until… Well she wasn't quite sure what happened. Erin left and Vlad retreated from school even further, a _whole month _without school.

She was seriously worried about Vlad and that was why she was heading straight to the Count's quarters to discuss Vlad and how she could help him.

Swiftly she headed down the dark corridor noting the very patchy work at the repair of the roof; perhaps she could also mention that to Mr Count when she spoke to him. Conveniently Mr Count found her before she had to look at any more of Renfield's terrible handy work in repairing the roof.

"Ah, dear Miss McCauley, how can I help you?" Vlad's father seemed to be in a fantastic mood, she wondered if his package that he'd be rejoicing about recently had arrived.

"It's about Vlad." The delighted smile vanished.

* * *

Vlad shifted uncomfortably as he felt the sensation of being watched. He did his best to ignore his screaming instincts to find out what was watching him.

It took five minutes of staring at the graffiti on the table until Vlad gave in and looked round. Becky. He gritted his teeth. He wasn't actually sure what her intentions were but she probably hadn't recovered from the beating her pride took at his and Erin's hands.

Their eyes met briefly and she gave him a dazzling smile until the steely coldness of his eyes dowsed her happy curiosity. Her brown eyes moved elsewhere and Vlad turned back to the front where the teacher was handing out their task.

_**Death – **__Write a piece with this as the theme, it can be a narrative, poem or any kind of creative writing._

Vlad thought about how death had treated him.

Not good.

* * *

"I still don't see how Vlad could possibly be worrying you!" Mr Count seemed to be painfully unaware of the potential psychological effects that the isolation and loneliness could be having on Vlad – he also didn't seem to care very much about Vlad's absence from school either.

"Vlad hasn't been to school for a month and he hasn't interacted with anyone for a month." She was all too aware of the walls Vlad seemed to be building around himself.

"He's had me, his father; who else could he possibly need? "

"He needs positive communication with others of his age." She said firmly wondering how a parent could be so clueless of their child's misery – she was very sure that Vlad's current state was nothing short of despair and she so wanted this to change. She'd seen Ingrid come back from a dark place and now she wanted Vlad out of that same ditch. Gloom seemed to be genetic in this family.

Mr Count opened his mouth to say something, probably something fantastically oblivious and rather insulting so she talked first. "And… I would also like Vlad to have a therapy session." She crossed her arms. "Adele is a very well-established child therapist who's helped numerous youths Vlad's age and she is willing to come immediately as a personal favour to me."

"Vladimir does not need help." It was obvious the thought of his son needing help offended him as Mr Count answered with a huff. "Vladimir is perfectly fine, I assure you."

"Why don't we ask Vlad?"

* * *

Vlad hadn't moved for fifteen minutes. With no need to keep blood circulating or breathe he'd simply not moved, too busy thinking. Oh bats. Was he becoming one of those brooding vampires who spent all their time thinking about how much they detested their existence? Probably already too late considering the hatred he held for himself.

He was pretty sure it was Becky who he could feel staring at him – she probably realised he hadn't moved for quite some time – and if the teacher had looked up from his book at all he'd probably be staring at Vlad too.

They had around half an hour left until the assessment was over and Vlad still hadn't written a single word on his paper and he didn't intend to. He just couldn't. He couldn't fall back in with the uneducated world of oblivious humans. Now more than ever he found the urge to chomp on a breather so hard to supress. They didn't know or understand and it grated on him like crazy.

He felt superior to them, humans. He hadn't ever wanted to feel the arrogance that he was feeling over the humans but it was true. He could hear thirty thumping heartbeats in the room and over a hundred down the corridor. He could smell the garlic and cheese being used in the home economics rooms in the next hall along. He could see a bird nesting within the thick branches of the willow in the grounds. He was better than them in every physical way possible. It made him feel far too dangerous to be near them.

It also made him feel hungry, and worryingly smug. He sighed showing the most evidence of life he had during the lesson. Feeling a little less broody and a little more amenable Vlad wrote one word on the page.

Half an hour later the teacher didn't seem to appreciate his contribution to the task. "You may have had a lot of time off school Vlad but that is no excuse." The teacher's voice was firm and restrained. It reminded Vlad of Bertrand; the vampire tutor was always so stoic and doing everything to hide the fact that he might have weaknesses.

Vlad hadn't really understood that until he really entered the big bad world. Not until Ingrid had proved that any emotion less than vindictive indifference could be used against you in the harshest way possible.

A small very angry cough alerted him to the fact he hadn't shown any signs of hearing the teacher, or any signs of actually being alive. He blinked and gave the teacher a mumbled apology. That apparently wasn't good enough and the teacher opened his mouth – probably to give a stern reprimand- but was beaten to the draw.

"Mr Martin," Miss McCauley was stood in the doorway, shadowed by his father, with a concerned expression. "Could I take Vlad off your hands now?"

The teacher responded with a gruff scowl. "Please do."

As the head teacher escorted Vlad away slipping a comforting hand round his shoulder David Martin plucked the student's assessment off the desk.

It said '_cold'._

* * *

Vlad sat next to his father looking extremely uncomfortable – apparently it was genetic since Mr Count's face held the same expression.

"I think you should speak to a councillor Vlad." The student in question gave her an uncharacteristically vicious scowl.

"I do not need to see a councillor." He responded sharply. Miss McCauley returned his glare.

"Don't you? Because it seems to me you've barely spoken to anyone positively since Erin departed the school." The temperature of the room seemed to drop twenty degrees at the mention of the ex-student and Vlad's expression was positively thunderous. "I understand that whatever happened between the pair of you is private but your wellbeing matters to me Vlad," Her expression turned slightly pleading as she continued. "And I must insist you have one session at least with a councillor to work through any issues."

"I do not need to see a councillor." Vlad said again firmly.

"You don't need to or you don't want to?"

"I _don't _need to see a councillor."


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hello...? Helloooooo? Anybody out there? Because I'm not quite sure that there is….**_

_**So I'm not the type to beg for reviews… okay I totally am but I kind of feel like no one's reading this and while I do write mostly for pleasure about 20% of me wants to know if you like it or not.**_

_**I'll just leave you with that and allow you to judge me for begging for reviews… **_

So Vlad was having a therapy session with a councillor…

He'd kicked, he'd screamed and even tried to appeal to his father to get out of it but the head teacher was adamant he should go and his father – for some strange unfathomable reason – had sided with Ms McCauley joining her in their unshakable decision.

He thought it was dumb by all accounts. Even if he was as miserable as Miss McCauley said he was (he wasn't!) then he seriously doubted talking to a complete stranger would change that. Ingrid thought it was pretty damn hilarious. She'd spent the majority of the time after learning of the appointment torturing him about it.

He'd responded with a number of biting remarks of how she'd needed it but all that did was amuse her and make him feel guilty for sending her out into the sunlight.

He wasn't miserable though! Well he was, but that didn't mean that he needed therapy – he just needed time.

* * *

Secret meetings were a waste of time. Even if you felt pretty cool for having them, driving to secure locations and discussing crucial information in dank and dirty warehouses made the whole process seem a little tedious to Jonno. But considering the topic they were debating it was probably best to be somewhere off the beaten track.

His heavy boots felt awkwardly noisy as they thumped against the concrete floor. They were in an old food storage place and if Jonno was honest then he thought it was rather creepy.

He entered the kitchen area to find the council all sat on picnic chairs looking old and bored – it totally messed up the image of 'secret meeting,'

He hesitantly sat on the remaining chair and fixed his gaze on the five council members. He wondered which one squealed about Mina's death – probably all of them.

"Why, did you call this meeting Colonel?" Colonel 'Evan' Williams had been elected chairman of the meeting as he was the highest ranking board member.

"I have called this meeting to discuss the vampire threat." He looked down his spectacles at Jonno. "You do agree with me that they pose a threat yes?"

Jonno bit his lip indecisively. "We have a treaty." He responded flatly his gaze fixed on a spider attempting to climb onto the Colonel's shoes. One of the council members' hmmph'd and the Colonel raised his eyebrows at Jonno.

"That wasn't my question; do you believe that vampires pose a threat? The Chosen One specifically?"

Jonno didn't answer and his lips thinned to a reddish line.

"He is the reason your mum is dead isn't he?"

Jonno suddenly thought of all the times (many times) Vlad had messed up, all the times he'd overstepped the mark – every mistake that had cost someone their life and every time Vlad had put his family before innocents. He opened his mouth to spew bloody murder about the vampire but found an image of Vlad's face in his mind that compromised all the vicious accusations. Vlad's icy blue eyes full of compassion you just didn't see in vampires.

Jonno murmured a conflicted answer, still feeling rather tempted to spite Vlad but thinking rather of how much the treaty meant to the Chosen One.

"We have a treaty – if we betray them, we're just as bad as they are."

"Maybe, but vampires don't stay good forever and when Vlad falls off the wagon –which he will- he'll leave us a trail of bodies to clean up."

Jonno worried how true that could turn out to be.

* * *

Ms McCauley her arm about his shoulder again; she seemed to think it was comforting but It made Vlad want to high tail it out of there. Another problem – that arm around his shoulder blocked his escape routes. He also felt hungry because of it. He could feel her veins pounding against his back. He wondered if Miss McCauley would tell him off for eating the therapist…

He was stopped outside the door of the teacher lounge – as it was a Saturday it wasn't in use- and Miss McCauley moved to speak to him.

He realised this was his only chance to run for it.

Then his father appeared at the end of the corridor with an expression that told Vlad he had no escape. He looked at Miss McCauley. She gave him a warm smile.

"It's not that bad Vlad, it'll probably help you! Anyway I know Adele and she won't make you talk if you don't want to." So he would be in trouble for eating the councillor. Bats.

She gave him a small nudge and Vlad entered the interrogation room.

'Adele' was seated on a chair brushing dark strands of hair from her face.

"Hello Vlad." Her tone was friendly, welcoming but it felt similar to the tone Ingrid used with him whenever she wanted something.

"Uh… Hello Miss…" He waited for her to say her name but she apparently had a different idea.

"Oh don't call me Miss!" Her lips stretched to a thin line when she smiled. "This isn't formal; you can just call me Adele!" This woman's bubbly attitude was positively weird. The only times people he knew smiled was when they wanted something or they'd got that something.

"Ok… Miss- Adele…" He mumbled before plonking down in the seat she invited to sit in.

"Are you unhappy Vlad?" Vlad gave a deep scowl, this was the reason he was unhappy! If he didn't have to go to this dumb session then he would be fine.

"I'm fine." He told her coldly.

His grumpy attitude seemed to bounce right off her impenetrable bubble of happiness and she gave him a smile that was meant to be reassuring as she wrote something on a clipboard.

"Let's try a different question: are you happy?" Vlad thought about the way his unlife was going and how much pain came with every thought.

He realised he just couldn't bear to answer.

**Roses are red,**

**Violets are blue,**

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**What about you?**


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